A "share" of students were absent Monday from State Road Elementary, the first day of classes since the possible flu-related death of one of the school's second-graders.

School officials had anticipated attendance might be down after the death Wednesday of 7-year-old Cristian Joel "C.J." Ehler. But Principal Dave Gluch said the school Monday "still had a lot of kids in it."

Ehler died after collapsing at his home. He had been at a medical clinic that same morning with flu-like symptoms, officials said.

Results have not yet been released on lab tests, and the cause of Ehler's death remains under investigation.

Staff Monday allowed students to ask questions and share memories of their classmate. Most students were able to return to their regular routine, Gluch said.

Several staff members and substitute teachers stepped in Monday

so others who worked with C.J. and his brother Josh, a fifth-grader at the school, could attend the funeral, Gluch said.

"It's a very difficult day at State Road," Gluch said.

The district had an absentee rate Monday of 6.6 percent, down from 7.9 percent Wednesday, Superintendent Jerry Kember said.